Introduction

Epidemiological studies through injury and illness surveillance and data collection are fundamental to protect athlete health. To encourage consistency in definitions and methodology, and to allow for data comparison between studies, consensus statements have been published in various sports. The aim of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus by Bahr et al 1 on methods for collecting and reporting epidemiological data on injuries and illnesses in sport was (1) to further strengthen consistency in data collection, injury definitions and research reporting through an updated set of recommendations for studying injuries and illnesses in sports, and (2) to provide practical guidance to researchers and clinicians on how to plan, conduct data collection and communicate findings. The ReFORM IOC Research Centre2 first summarised and translated the consensus statement into a shorter synopsis in French to facilitate broader use by French-speaking researchers.3 4 In this Editorial, we provide this summary to highlight key areas from the IOC consensus on methods for collecting and reporting epidemiological data on injuries and illnesses in sport1 (figure 1).